1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system, and in particular to a computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer program product for providing a self-optimizing algorithm for real-time problem resolution using historical data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a manufacturing environment, a requisition for goods or services, described in terms of exchange of those goods or services for agreed compensation in a contractual form, is called an order. Customers place orders for products that must be manufactured once the order has been placed. For timely manufacturing and delivery of the ordered product, a significant amount of planning, preparation, and procurement procedures are involved in the production process. Accounting systems, planning systems, warehouse management systems, logistics systems, and numerous other systems, support the production planning process to ensure that the orders are capable of being fulfilled. These systems may determine whether orders can be fulfilled based on the buyer's account status, suppliers' inventory levels, manufacturer's own warehouse inventory, quantities on hand, assembly schedule availability, and tooling and personnel availability among other factors.
When an order is received from a customer, the manufacturing system breaks down the order into requisite materials. The term “material” used in the context of an order in this manner means the various components, supplies, accessories, and consumable items needed for making the ordered product. For example, for an order for a computer, the materials may include a specific motherboard, a processor of a certain specification, a chassis of certain dimensions, a power supply of certain wattage, and number of screws of a certain size to fasten the motherboard to the chassis. For each order, the manufacturing system generates one or more bills of materials (BOM), which is a listing of materials or parts needed to complete the order. A part is an individual component or device which exists prior to being assembled into another component or assembly.
When products that have a high degree of complexity are assembled, test processes are executed on these complex assemblies on a regular basis. These test processes are used to find product defects or process flow problems. Critical attributes of each problem encountered are captured and stored for use offline in a quality management system for failure analysis or to help direct future process improvements. Subsequent user actions taken to resolve the failures may also be captured and stored in offline processes. These attributes and resolution data elements are valuable in aiding the process of debugging product and process flow issues.